Ever since you got born again,
you gave your life to The LORD Jesus Christ and you received Salvation, have
you been really bearing the Fruits Worthy of Repentance?
That is the very fundamental
question that you and I, should be asking ourselves everyday of our life.
To start us off, we need to
know exactly the meaning of Repentance. Repentance simply refers to
confessing one’s sins before The LORD Jesus Christ and asking
Him to forgive one, and to wash away all the sins and to make one anew, afresh,
onto a new path: The Path of a new life; the life of being born again.
The Kingdom of God in Heaven
is for the Repentant. The Kingdom of God is at hand for those who have Repented
of their sins; for the Kingdom of God belongs to them and awaits them. This is
very powerfully captured in the Book of Mathew 3: 1-2 which
states as follows: ‘“In those days John the Baptist came preaching
in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand!”’
For Repentance to take root,
there must be confession of sins i.e. remorsefulness for the past lifestyle of
sins, and thereby pleading for mercy for the forgiveness of the sins. This
confession is a confession before The LORD. This is very powerfully captured in
the Book of Mathew 3: 5-6 which states as follows: ‘“Then
Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to
him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.”’
This therefore means being
awakened to how deep one has fallen in sin, and thereby the realization of the
need to Repent of sins, so as to be Restored, Renewed and Revived away from the
deep darkness, into the Light of The LORD Jesus Christ. This is very powerfully
captured in the Book of Revelation 2: 4-5 which states
as follows: ‘“Nevertheless I have this against you,
that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have
fallen; Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly
and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”’
It is very important to note
that one can be so much entangled in Religion and doctrines of man, and thereby
miss the key ingredients of walking with The LORD, which is: Repentance, and
the consequent walk in Righteousness, Holiness, Wisdom, Truth and Complete
Surrender to The LORD Jesus Christ. This is very powerfully captured in the
Book of Mathew 3: 7-8 which states as follows: ‘“But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said
to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.”’
The question that comes right
therein is: What are the fruits worthy of Repentance, that we ought
to bear? To understand this, it is very important to note that
Repentance ought to be a moment of “bidding bye” to the old sinful lifestyle,
and thereby now partaking of the new lifestyle of Salvation. In the new
lifestyle of Salvation, there is The Helper, The Comforter that indwells inside
those who have Repented of their sins and thus welcome Him inside them; He is
The Holy Spirit. He helps us to live a life worthy of our calling as born-again
sons and daughters of The LORD. He thus helps us to bear testimony of our
Salvation through the “Products/Produce/Results” that emanate right within
us. These (The “Products/Produce/Results”) are known as The Fruits
of The Holy Spirit.
These are indeed The
Fruits of Repentance; that we need to bear as a Testimony of our Salvation, and
what we need to bear as Fruits worthy of Repentance. This
is very powerfully captured in the Book of Galatians 5: 22-26 which
states as follows: ‘“But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who
are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one
another.”’
We can therefore not be
producing rotten fruits that betray our Salvation: The rotten fruit of the
former lifestyle of sins. These are captured in the book of Galatians
5: 16-21 which states as follows: ‘“I say then: Walk in
the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh
lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are
contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you
wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the
works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies,
outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy,
murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of
which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past,
that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”’
We must endeavour to ensure,
through the help of The Holy Spirit (by Submitting and Surrendering to The
LORD) that we humble ourselves and seek The LORD to help us to be Fruitful for
His Kingdom i.e. to bear Fruits Worthy of Repentance, otherwise what remains
and awaits is Judgment (Wrath) of The LORD. This is very powerfully captured in
the Book of Mathew 3: 9-12 which states as
follows: ‘“and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham
as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up
children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the
root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I
am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His
winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His
threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire.”’
SHALOM!!!
REPENTANCE PRAYER:
Precious Jesus,
I acknowledge today that you are LORD and Savior
of all mankind,
and today I have recognized my shortfall,
I Repent and turn away from all Sin.
Please cover me with your Precious Blood,
and establish your Word in my life,
that I may be found in Righteousness and
Holiness
and write my name in your Book of Life
and baptize me with the power of the Holy Spirit
in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
AMEN.
Your Brother in Christ Jesus and a Shepherd of
The LORD,
Kevin Mirasi
NOTE: First posted this message on 17th June 2016.
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